Q1. What was Franz expected to be prepared with for school that day?
Ans: Franz was expected to prepare a lesson on participles. His teacher, M. Hamel would question the rules of participles that day and Franz didn’t know the first word about them. He was expecting a rebuke or thrashing from his teacher.
Q2. What strange environment did Franz notice at school?
Ans: Franz noticed a strange and quiet environment at school. There were no sounds of opening and closing of desks, lessons repeated in unison or the teacher’s ruler rapping on the table. The school was silent as if it was on a Sunday morning.
Q3. What had been put on the bulletin board?
Ans: Franz knew that all the bad news for the past two years had come from the bulletin board- the lost battles, the drafts and the orders of the commanding officer. The latest information was that Prussia had taken over two provinces of France- Alsace and Lorraine. An order from Berlin came that no French would be taught in the schools of these two provinces, hereafter. German language was imposed on them and new teachers would come to teach them German.
Q4. What was the effect of the order passed by the Germans?
Ans: The order from Berlin caused great dismay in the school. It upset all the students and their teacher. It was their last French lesson, the next day onwards a new teacher would come to teach them German. The students sat quietly as they wanted to learn the maximum that day. M. Hamel was dressed at his best and was willing to give all his knowledge to his students in his last lesson. Some elders of the village were seated at the back to pay their respect to the teacher, M. Hamel, for rendering his selfless service for forty years.
Q5. How did Franz feel like when he heard that it was his last lesson?
Ans: The feeling that it would be their last French lesson made Franz quite sentimental. He realized how little he knew his mother tongue. His books, which were a nuisance only a while ago, seemed to be his old friends now. The thought that M. Hamel would no longer teach them seemed quite painful to him. He suddenly developed a strange liking for his mother tongue and the teacher and forgot all about M. Hamel’s ruler and that how cranky he was.
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